Seymour SSL1 California Set -v- Fender Noiseless Strat Vintage Set

[Baltar]

Hi Folks,

i still got a strat around, which is waiting for _the_ pups.
i currently don't have the money to try out several sets -
even if it would be fun to do so ...

i built her of an ash body and builtin a Fender rw-neck from a broken 96' Strat.

blues rock is the goal. is like the srv tone (yes i know it's in his fingers,
but just to define a direction).

i took a look at the specs of the SSL-1 set and the new Fender noiseless
strat Vintage set. Price is nearly the same, if i buy the covers and
pots for the ssl-1 (which is already included in the fender set).

has anyone ever compared the two sets? which one do you think fits
better. i always thought of duncans. a friend of mine said, he'd rather
choose the fenders for srv tone. what say u ?

cheers
martin

[bungalowbill]

AFAIK SRV never used noiseless pups....... he used vintage Strat pups at about 6K. I use SSL-1's and can get close to SRV's tone.

[Curly]

the California set is a heck of a deal, and SSLs are probably as close as any pickups at SRVs tone. Still, in an ash strat especially, I prefer alnico 2 pickups.

that said, Leo's early strats had alnico 5 pickups, AFAIK

[Lewguitar]

The SSL-1's will sound more like a '62 Strat pickup than the Fender Noiseless pickups. They are bright and chimey. If it's vintage accurate tone that you're after go for the SSL-1's...great pickups for vintage accurate tone.

[Benjy_26]

Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups are poo. Go with the SSL-1's, Fender 57/62's, or Antiquity Surfers if you can swing the cash.

[Baltar]

ok, that was one clear message.
i'll go for the duncans ... thanks guys

[stevie_bees]

Course, if you need them to be noiseless, you could always go for the new Duncan noiseless pluses.

[stevie_bees]

Although, I have to agree, the SSL-1's are the real deal for that SRV vibe. I love mine.

[larry_emder]

^
i know i will be

[LReese]

I would not hesitate to get the SSL-1's. I'd get the California set, but there's something about the RWRP setup that did not sound right in the N+M and M+B when I had a similar setup.

I've spent a lot of money on "noiseless" pickups and never have been truly happy. I'm have a Ash American Deluxe Strat with 'hot noiseless" that came stock. These were OK enough to not swap the pickups.

The best of the "noseless" so far have been Hot Gold Lace Sensors, though it does not buck hum. To me these were kinda like a Hi-Fi single coil. I just can't get over the no-polepiece look. I have yet to try the Stack Plus or the Suhr system.

[kylewrt1986]

Just to confuse you more...I personally love APS2s for a vintage output blues rock tone...I put slightly heavier strings than I'm used to, 11s, and I can get in the same ball park as the SRV tone..as you say, its in the fingers, and a multitude of other factors. I put an SSL-5 in the bridge for hotter lead work, again it isn't instantly SRV but a bit of tweaking and I get a sound I'm loving at the moment. RW/RP middle works really well to eliminate hum in 2 and 4 too, despite the differences between the APS2 middle and SSL-5 bridge.

Also I put a push/pull on so I get neck and bridge in series and middle and neck in series, can get some pretty beefy tones out of that too (i wired it so it flips frm a 0.022uf cap to a 0.015 cap when it goes from the parallel to the series config too, so it doesn't turn into a mudbath). Neck + Bridge in series gives a nice bit of Tele type twang, great for some Stones-y rythym n blues too!

[Baltar]

who wrote i need cables with high capacity to reach srv tone ? *g*

[Baltar]

hmpf. i just reminded, that before i was knowing of seymour duncan,
i planned to test some fender 57' reissue pus.
ever anybody tried these?

[aaronl]

hmpf. i just reminded, that before i was knowing of seymour duncan,
i planned to test some fender 57' reissue pus.
ever anybody tried these?

Hey man...
Fender Vintage Noiseless are just not great for SRV man, they are kinda sterile sounding and I just have never liked them (I have had 2 sets).

The Fender CS69s are sharp man I love mine, the 57/62s are good.

I would also at least consider the Fender CS54s they arent bad either diff really being alnico II vs alnico V

but the SSL-1s are something I am going to try soon!!

[Lewguitar]

Fender Noiseless Pickups are not crap. They sound good enough...

But the Duncan Stack Plus is better....way better, IMO.

And if you split them you get vintage accurate single coil tone that's like a '62 Strat pickup.

[kylewrt1986]

Yeh I just put in a couple Fender Hot Noisless; not crap, just not a vintage tone..which isn't what I was looking for in that guitar, so i'm pretty happy coz I knew what to expect...but I'm intuiged by this stack plus, does it give a more authentic vintage voiced tone?

edit...just read the rest of the post that I sumhow missed..see what you said about the split tone..so how about the full tone, what kind of sound does it give you?

[aaronl]

Fender Noiseless Pickups are not crap. They sound good enough...

But the Duncan Stack Plus is better....way better, IMO.

And if you split them you get vintage accurate single coil tone that's like a '62 Strat pickup.

hey mate who said they were crap??
just curious??

i said i thought they were kinda sterile sounding... ???

I havent tried the fender hot noiseless they may be kinda cool

[Lewguitar]

hey mate who said they were crap??
just curious??

i said i thought they were kinda sterile sounding... ???

I havent tried the fender hot noiseless they may be kinda cool

Benjy said: "Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups are poo. Go with the SSL-1's, Fender 57/62's, or Antiquity Surfers if you can swing the cash."

Poo is the same as crap...

I'm not defending the Fenders though...I usually agree with Benjy.

Lew

[aaronl]

Benjy said: "Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups are poo. Go with the SSL-1's, Fender 57/62's, or Antiquity Surfers if you can swing the cash."

Poo is the same as crap...

I'm not defending the Fenders though...I usually agree with Benjy.

Lew

doh i so missed it hahahaha
and i have 2 young kids, i should have caught the poo thing

long day man
and i am upset my les paul studio i just got in has a small crack in the neck

[kylewrt1986]

Fender's Vintage Noiseless pickups are poo

well the Hots are modern and quite Hi-Fi sounding, for some people that = sterile. They're cool if you aren't expecting vintage voicing..I got my APS2s + SSL05 for that in my other strat...though I'm tempted to buy a Twangbanger for the bridge and see what that sounds like...so very tempted..